Ridgefield has some affordable housing, at least by the state's definition. To qualify for such housing in Ridgefield, a person has to meet certain income levels.

The state's median income is set at $89,200 for a family of four. If the family earns more, they don't qualify.

An affordable housing complex must have 30 percent of its units priced at affordable levels. Of that 30 percent, half the units must have rents affordable to people earning 60 percent of the median income. For the other half, the income level is set at 80 percent.

The rents in these units cannot exceed 30 percent of a family's income. That works out to about $1,065 a month for families at the 60 percent level and $1,465 a month at the 80 percent level.

Including the 149 units run by the Ridgefield Housing Authority, Brosius said that town has 245 affordable housing units. According to the 2010 Census, Brosius said, the town has 9,420 housing units overall.

That means about 2.6 percent of the town's housing meets the state's definition of affordable. The state's goal is for towns to have 10 percent of their housing deemed affordable.

Reaching that threshold has proved to be difficult for many affluent towns in southwestern Connecticut. For instance, judges twice in the last year have overturned the town of Fairfield's efforts to block affordable housing projects. In Greenwich, where officials struggle to provide affordable housing, the town is spending about $1.5 million to offer five such units to less affluent residents.

Shortages of affordable housing make towns vulnerable to developers using the state's 8-30g regulations.

Normally, builders going before a planning and zoning commission must prove they should be allowed to build a housing complex. Using 8-30g, the onus is reversed: The commission has to prove why a development shouldn't be built, and that has proven difficult for towns over the years.

"It's a very flawed law," Zemo said. "I'd like to see the state modify it."

Brosius said once a developer succeeds in using the 8-30g law to build in town, others follow suit.

"They look for open real estate," she said Tuesday at an interview at her office.

To keep these developers at bay, a town can apply to the state for a four-year moratorium on 8-30g development. Brosius is involved in the extremely detailed work of compiling the data for such a request.

"I have spent hundreds of hours on it," she said.

She said the town is just shy of qualifying for a moratorium, based on a point-system formula that rates the availability of affordable housing in each municipality.

With new affordable developments going up on Danbury Road, Main Street and Gilbert Street, she said, the town might meet those standards.

If the town gets the moratorium, it could use the time off to develop zoning regulations that would allow affordable units to be built, but still have them meet town standards for building size and aesthetics. It could also develop standards for developers seeking to build within the town's historic districts.

Those at the forum agreed Monday that to have a moratorium and not use it to change the way the town deals with 8-30g applications would be the waste of a good opportunity.

"We don't want to have to say, `That was just a lot of paperwork for Betty,'" Zemo said.